New Caritas leader outlines priorities

May 27, 2011

Michel Roy, the newly elected secretary-general of Caritas Internationalis--the confederation of Catholic relief and development agencies--discussed his four priorities in an interview with Vatican Radio.

The first priority, he said, is “the reinforcement of the humanitarian response of the Caritas network to the victims of man made or natural disasters. Secondly, the promotion and coordination of the integral human development work which is the base of all Caritas organizations. How together we can reinforce our work in animating the poor so that they can take their lives in their own hands and move forwards.”

“The third priority, the third axis, is around advocacy for a better and more just world,” he continued. “We are facing with the crisis that we are going through now major challenges ,and we see that the world is dominated by finance. We want to turn that world upside down and put the human being back at the center. The poor have to be our inspiration for that. And the fourth priority is to improve and bring forth the coordination, access, and communication among the members, so that each member participates in the promotion of the mission of the whole network.”

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

While these are admirable priorities, I would like to see something more that recognizes the Catholic identity of Caritas International.
These priorities sound like the priorities of many other good, but secular, organizations.
And although I do agree that we want to see people rather than money 'at the center' of what we do, I think we should first put our Lord, Jesus Christ, at the center of our work.

Stay in Touch!

Subscribe to Insights

Stay on top of the latest Catholic news and analysis from CatholicCulture.org.